LANE l Strong Compares Cards to Last Year's Trojans

Charlie Strong has said all the right things about his coaches and his team dealing with expectations that are through the roof. He says his team will certainly be trying to win every game, but that it's unfair for fans to think a loss would be the end of the world.

But in warning his players not to get too high themselves despite the lofty preseason rankings, he brought up an interesting cautionary tale to Rick Bozich and Eric Crawford.

"This season, I think about USC last year," Strong said. "Barkley -- Teddy. They had a transfer running back in from Penn State, we just had a running back transfer in. Wide Receiver? They had them all. Think about all those wide receivers they had. We got the same wide receivers. Defensively? They had a good defense. And look what happened to them."

What happened to them was a very disappointing 7-6 record after very high preseason expectations that included national championship talk.

Strong said he brought that up to his coaches Thursday and that he's going to talk about it with the players.